Leeds United 0 Doncaster Rovers 1
Yet again Leeds have failed on the big occasion, with a lifeless performance taking us to our third play-off final defeat, so we can now look forward to another season in League One.
It was a good day out before the football began. The weather forecast had been dire for the South-East and I feared a good soaking as it poured down on the way into London, but it was brightening up by the time we came out of Wembley Park tube station. The new stadium was very impressive, complete with escalators to whisk us up to our seats up in the heavens, and the day had dried up sufficiently for them to play the match without using the roof.
Once the formalities were out of the way (with Mahwinney getting roundly booed by the Leeds fans when he dared to show his smug face for the presentations) it was time to start. The one decision McAllister had to make was whether to recall Sheehan now that his suspension was completed, but he opted to go with the same eleven from the two semi-finals, with Johnson continuing in the left-back role.
Leeds had possibly twice as many fans inside the stadium and it began to feel a bit like a Leeds home game, but that wasn’t necessarily a good omen, when both matches between the two clubs during the season had been won by the away team. And Doncaster started the brighter of the two sides, getting behind our defence several times during the first half, somehow beating the offside trap every time. First Wellens shot into the side netting when he should have pulled the ball back, then Casper did well to save at the feet of first Coppenger and then Wellings, with timing his challenge perfectly both times.
By now the Leeds fans in the Doncaster end had decided to rush up and gather in the many empty seats at the top, but order was maintained by a line of police and stewards who moved in to keep them there and segregate them from the Donny fans below. Back on the field, the best attempts at goal Leeds could manage were a couple of shots from Beckford, which lacked the power to trouble Sullivan, then an effort from Howson that just cleared the bar.
We were still lacking any bite in midfield, and just before half time Casper again had to come racing off his line, this time using his feet to knock the ball out of Hayter’s path, at the expense of a corner. I felt quite relieved that we went in all square at half time, but things weren’t going to get any better after the break.
Within two minutes of the restart Doncaster were ahead. A free kick was deflected away for a corner, the result of which was that Hayter was allowed to make a late run into the area unchallenged, and stoop to send a powerful low header crashing past Casper into the net. From then on Doncaster were content to sit back and soak up the pressure, while Leeds passed the ball around and never seemed to have much idea as to how we could break them down.
Howson seemed keen to shoot at every opportunity after his success at Carlisle, but sent another shot over the bar in the 58th. minute. Johnson missed the target by an even bigger margin, and Macca thought it was time to shake things up, by bringing Kandol on for Prutton. The second sub was Hughes for Freedman, which was met with a chorus of disapproval, although the old man hadn’t really managed to get into the game. I would introduced Carole to give us some much needed width, but what do I know?
As the clock ticked down Doncaster threatened with a couple of breaks, before our final chance fell to Douglas with three minutes of normal time to go. His shot seemed to flash just past past the post, but it was hard to tell from the view I had, looking down at that goal from a high angle. There were four minutes of injury time, but it was one of those days when it looked like Leeds wouldn’t have scored if we’d played till midnight.
We didn’t bother to wait to see Rovers presented with the trophy, but sadly trooped off towards the tube station, discussing next seasons trips to Peterborough, MK Dons and either Rochdale or Stockport. We might look back at this season and think that it could have been a lot worse, with the burden of the 15 point deduction, but at the moment we can’t help thinking that it could have been a whole lot better.